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The NovelFriends are four writers who met through Wisconsin Romance Writers and initially became bonded by our love of books. That connection has expanded, grown, and deepened into true friendship over the years. We look forward to sharing our experiences with you, so follow the blog and join in the fun - we're always happy to have more NovelFriends!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

tear jerking - Delia

A group of writer buddies (notice I didn't say novel friends) who shall remain nameless got together this weekend and spent a lot of time talking.  I won't write about that get together, because someone claims she called dibs on that subject.  So, instead, I'll expand on a topic brought up during that get together of people-who-we-don't-know's conversation.

What is your crying threshold?  What is that little thing in a movie that'll set your waterworks going?  I'm not a big crier and tend to be a bit cold-hearted.  There's not a lot that sets me off, mostly because I tend to avoid things I know will trigger the tear ducts.  A movie starring a dog?  Forget it, I KNOW that pooch isn't going to live to see the end credits.  Anything by Nicholas Sparks?  Nope, not gonna go there.  I refuse to watch a movie knowing I'm going to come out of it depressed.  I've never seen Titanic.  I KNOW the boat is going to sink, why put myself through that?  But, every once in awhile, something sneaks up on me and my eyes go all juicy.  Man, I hate when that happens.

It's not the normal things that'll do it to me either, someone dying, a love story gone bad, you know, that kind of thing.  It's worse.  Those rah-rah 1940's war support movies tend to touch me off.  The love of country, the patriotism, the thought of those boys going off to experience hell on earth, maybe to never return home.  It chokes me up all the time - which may also explain why I tend to get teary-eyed at the beginning of parades when the VFW guys come marching by with the flags.  It's not the serious drama either, I got all choked up during a Betty Grable musical once.  I cry during Casablanca, not when Rick and Ilsa say goodbye like normal people do, but when the crowd sings the French National Anthem at Rick's Place.


But, my Achilles heal, the thing that gets me every time, all I have to do is try to tell someone about it and I start crying, comes from a very unexpected place.  It's the very last 2 minutes of the pilot episode of the sit-com Raising Hope.  If you're not familiar with the show, it's about a young man, Jimmy, who unexpectedly has fatherhood thrust upon him.  Jimmy's parents were teens themselves when he was born and just sort of bumbled their way through parenthood.  Anyway, in the scene, Jimmy is trying to get his new baby to sleep and she keeps crying.  Finally his parents come in and say they'll do for her what they always did to stop him from crying as a baby.  The father takes out his guitar and he and the mother sing Danny's Song (even though we ain't got money, I'm so in love with you honey) to quiet the baby.  Then it flashes back to the parents as teens singing for their own baby son.  (shoot, I'm starting to tear up again!)  Whenever I think of it, I imagine the two scared teenagers, just trying to do the best they can in the situation they're in, nothing but hope and love keeping it all together and I just get all mushy and have to go looking for a Kleenex.


So yeah, now you know what sets me off.  How about you?  Do you have something that'll get ya every time?

5 comments:

  1. I can sometimes cry pretty easily. I'm usually ok with sad movies as long as I know ahead of time what's coming (thank you, movie spoilers!). One that always gets me is Apollo 13 - even knowing what is going to happen, I choke up every single time. I loved that scene from Raising Hope as well. For a quirky show, it has some really touching moments. Great post, Delia!

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  2. I'm not a crier, but with movies since you bring them up, well a couple come to mind. The scene when Robert Redford takes Meryl Streep flying for the first time in Out of Africa. I'm tearing up now just thinking of it.

    The ending of The Way We Were when Barbra Streisand gently lifts the hair from Robert Redford's forehead.

    Others like that, just bits and pieces, but I fight tears just thinking about them.

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  3. Sounds like Robert Redford will get you every time, Casey. :)

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  4. You and I are so much alike in that way, Delia. I cry at the drop of a hat. I tried telling Stacey about the movie Somewhere In Time because she's never seen it, and I couldn't even get a sentence out without choking up. That movie kills me...LOL

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  5. The movie Bridge to Terabithia makes me cry every time, even though I know what's going to happen. There was a point where the kids watched it a couple times a week, and yep...every darn time!

    And the Tim McGraw song "If You're Reading This" gets me. Driving in the car and I'll have tears filling my eyes. It's the soldier thing, just like you.

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